Marc Munroe Dion: FRFD's anger not rising to the top

The firefighters union seems far friendlier toward Mayor Will Flanagan than it did just a few weeks ago. Outrage is hard to maintain when the numbers are going your way.

Marc Munroe DionHerald News Columnist

— The firefighters union seems far friendlier toward Mayor Will Flanagan than it did just a few weeks ago. Outrage is hard to maintain when the numbers are going your way.

Wasn’t the firefighters’ outrage noisier when Flanagan appointed a chief the department didn’t want because so many older guys had more seniority and “deserved” to be chief? Didn’t the outrage last longer that time?

One gets the sense that the older guys on the department are a lot more interested in preserving the benefits of their seniority than they are in saving the jobs of the young firefighters.

— As it has been since they invented the MCAS test, it remains fashionable for parents and teachers to kick at the mere notion of testing. A reminder: I took a test to get into graduate school, and one to get my first job as a reporter. You take tests to get a truck driver’s license, to become a registered nurse, a Realtor, a police sergeant, a master plumber, an electrician, a doctor, a lawyer. Tests are not torments devised by the devil. Tests are life.

— When you talk about tourism in Fall River now, you have to say “branding” or “re-branding,” as in “we want to re-brand Fall River.” This is not optional. It is to 2014 what “inter-modal transport” was to 1998.

— The Pink Bean coffee house is moving to 85 Purchase St., which places it in the same building as my home base saloon, the St. James, around the corner from the cigar store I patronize and between, not just my house and work, but between my mother’s house and my job.

— At the Atlantic Sports Bar and Restaurant, on Shove Street in Tiverton, Chef Messias Dias has invented something called a Mozambique French Fry Tower. I haven’t tried it yet, but my imagination is running wild. Speaking to Dias, I learned it is indeed a tower of french fries, covered in Mozambique sauce and packed with bacon and chourico. Keeping track of things like this is the best part of my job as a reporter.

— Still on the “night out” beat, I dropped into Dunny’s, the new saloon on South Main Street. Nice place, old-fashioned inside, lots of old Fall River memorabilia. Sitting at the wood bar, drinking a draft beer, hat pushed back on my head, looking out the big front window at nighttime Fall River, I felt like I was drinking in 1934. I like the feeling.

— Disc jockey names are an art of the people. There’s a guy working this area called “DJ Sammy Clawz.” Reminds me of Christmas.

— In the past, I’ve identified myself as a nominal fan of the Portuguese soccer team Porto. That said, Benfica is having a magnificent year. Forca Benfica!

— Ya know, while the removal of ramps in the downtown area does provide a better view of the waterfront, there’s some stuff on the waterfront that isn’t too pretty. Ya know that, right?

— I think I’m the only one who goes INTO the bank anymore. Everybody else is in the drive-through line. I also think I’m the only one who goes into the bank to cash a $10 check.

— I go INTO the Dunkin’ Donuts, too. And the McDonald’s.

— No sign of those city-issued yard waste bins in my neighborhood, though I’ve seen ‘em, on Durfee Street and New Boston Road.